Education News & Investigations
The go to place for any issue having to do with education across the nation
Weekday education briefings and weekly deep dives, state by state — plus national investigations built entirely from public records, federal data, and on-record voices. Every episode publishes its sources, so anything we say can be checked.
Have an education story or question for the show? Request a call and a member of the production team will phone you.
Your information is protected — see our Privacy & Data Security page.
A national claim needs national organization. Each state has its own page — its daily briefings, its latest episodes, its education department, and the hot issues our board-watch is tracking there.
The flagship. A weekday briefing for every state in the nation, weekly deep dives, section-by-section walkthroughs of the laws that run schools — IDEA, Section 504, and state rules like New Hampshire's Ed 1100 — and national investigations. Hosted by Alex and Jordan.
Apple Podcasts Spotify iHeart Amazon Music YouTube RSS Feed Episode Index
A weekly hour on the trends reshaping schools in southern New Hampshire — Manchester, Nashua, Derry, Salem — funding, policy, and the numbers behind the headlines. Hosted by Alex and Jordan.
Apple Podcasts Spotify iHeart Amazon Music RSS Feed Episode Index
Our producer's other show, with its own site, channels, and audience: a weekly podcast about building and running a business, sequenced from the very beginning — what a business actually is, the idea and the customer, money in and money out, pricing, the first sale, and leading people — with meetings covered as one module in the run of the show. Sundays at 7:00 PM ET. Hosted by Alex and Jordan.
Website Apple Podcasts YouTube iHeart Amazon Music Pocket Casts RSS Feed
Nineteen percent of public school students — nearly one in five — now have an IEP under IDEA or a Section 504 plan. Our investigation of the newest federal data asks why: real need finally counted, or a system producing its own caseload? The verdict is mixed, the evidence is discriminating, and every number is sourced. Specific learning disability — the category weak instruction would inflate — has been shrinking for two decades, while autism, ADHD, and 504-only plans drive the growth; identification rates run from about 11% to about 21% depending on the state a child happens to live in.
Every district, and every school inside it. Our comparison of the federal Civil Rights Data Collection for 2023–24 covers 17,591 districts and 97,094 schools: how many students were physically restrained, mechanically restrained, or secluded, at what rate per 1,000 students, and how heavily the burden falls on students with disabilities. Districts that reported zero are shown as reported zero; districts and schools that did not report are shown as exactly that — never as zero. Drill down from the nation to a state, to a district, to the individual school, and search any school by name.
A national special on Section 504 — the accommodation plan that almost quadrupled in fifteen years under one unchanging legal test, varies from 0% to over 30% depending on the building, and has never had a federal eligibility audit. Every claim proof-checked before air.
Every school system runs on two layers of law: the education code the legislature wrote and the administrative regulations written under it. Our library links the official text of both — plus each department of education — for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories, alongside our Regulations, Section by Section audio walkthroughs as they publish. No summaries standing in for the law: the links go to the official text, which controls.
Our briefing on the federal homelessness education law: who qualifies (three of every four identified students are doubled-up, not in shelters), the rights every district owes — immediate enrollment, school of origin, transportation with the cross-district 50/50 default — the misunderstandings that produce audit findings and lawsuits, and the board-policy and front-office build for full compliance.
For the administrators who carry both laws at once: McKinney-Vento duties and the IDEA compliance spine — child find, timelines, the state performance plan indicators, prior written notice — in one place, with a five-point internal audit checklist to run before monitoring season.
Sources, always. Every episode description carries a Sources section naming the documents, datasets, and reporting behind it.
Nothing invented. No fabricated quotes, no invented figures, no voices created for real people. Guests who record with us are aired exactly as they recorded — their voice, unaltered. Written answers are read verbatim.
On the record. The officials and institutions we cover are invited to respond on the record, and their responses air as given.
Corrections in the open. When we get something wrong, we fix the episode and say what changed.
Education Across the States is produced by Charles Mayfield, executive producer and owner — independent and self-funded, with no outside backers. Roman Greco serves as associate producer. The shows cover education the way it actually works: the federal law, the state rules, the district budgets, and the meetings where decisions get made.
Press and guest inquiries: educationacrossthestates@gmail.com · (978) 291-8525. Run the Room: runtheroom@outlook.com.
Teachers, parents, staff, board members: if you have documents or a story about education in your state — a budget that doesn't add up, a policy hurting kids, a meeting where the public was shut out — send it to educationacrossthestates@gmail.com. We check everything against the public record before it airs.